


Every Night I Save You

by Jen



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: BtVS S6, Drabble Sequence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-02
Updated: 2010-01-02
Packaged: 2017-10-05 16:48:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen/pseuds/Jen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happened after Spike's "After Life" declaration, "Every night I save you."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Every Night I Save You

**Author's Note:**

> For jamalov29's request for early S6 Spuffy.  
> The first is Spike's POV, the second is Buffy's, the third is a bit of POV free-for-all.

The words tumbled out in a rush, and then it was too late to censor himself, not that verbal restraint had ever been his strong suit. Would he be forever throwing declarations into the lengthening silences between them?

Speaking truths usually buoyed him up, gave him power, purpose. But not these truths.

Hollow gazes and raw hands spoke of the futility of dreams, and his explanations sounded reductionist, exculpatory.

He didn't deserve forgiveness, hadn't even helped to bring her back. Was Willow, the others who pulled her from hell, left him in the dark.

Would he always be failing her?

***

"Every night I save you."

She watched regret, dismay, and indecision compete for dominance in his eyes. Mostly, she decided, he looked stricken at what he'd said.

Stricken. Had she ever used the word before? If she remembered correctly, "stricken" meant struck with a heavy blow. Spike certainly looked as if he'd been hit hard with something. As he had the moment he first saw her.

Stricken.

It was a funny word.

A funny world.

Funny how she didn't feel saved.

But that wasn't his doing. This nightmare was courtesy of her trusty and well-beloved friends.

_Save me._

Could he?

***

The quiet felt restless, accusatory, but he would not speak again. He would wait her out, find out what she needed from him. He would—

Oh, bloody hell. She was standing. Turning away. Leaving him.

"I couldn't save you when it counted," he repeated, directing his remarks to her retreating back. "Not then, not on the tower." She slowed. "But maybe you need saving here below, yeah? Now?"

_I need saving here below, now._

Could he?

She stopped at the door.

When he reached her, they walked into the darkness together.

This night, he would begin saving her for real.


End file.
